Vancouver police officers could be facing charges in the 2015 death of a Sunshine Coast man.
The Independent Investigations Office announced Wednesday that it has filed a report with Crown counsel for consideration of charges in the death of Myles Gray.
Gray, a Sechelt resident, was making deliveries for his landscape business near South East Marine Drive and Joffre Avenue in Vancouver on Aug. 13, 2015 when police were called about a dispute over watering. At the time, the IIO said the officers “engaged the affected person and a struggle ensued… Medical assistance was rendered at the scene, however the affected person did not survive his injuries.”
A lawsuit filed by Gray’s family in 2016 claims that officers allegedly “beat the deceased to death by inflicting massive physical traumas upon him through repeated grievous, violent assaults and batteries, including after they had detained and restrained him.”
None of the claims in the lawsuit have been proven in court.
“The length of this investigation relates to a number of aspects, including a difference of opinion with a witness officer regarding the extent of their duty to cooperate under the Police Act in the context of a second interview,” the IIO said in a statement.
The office went to court in late 2017 in an effort to get Const. Hardeed Sahota to cooperate with investigators. The IIO withdrew its petition in early March after Sahota agreed to be interviewed.
Additionally, the office had been waiting to get more information about the cause of death. In August, the B.C. Coroners Service told the Coast Reporter it was helping the agency with “additional forensic pathology resources, which are going to be utilized to aid in the examination of the facts of the case.”
A specific cause of death in the case had previously not been determined.
The IIO would not comment on the number of police officers named in the report that is now before the B.C. Prosecution Service.
- With files from the Sean Eckford/Coast Reporter
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